Britain’s aging nuclear-armed submarines, the force that keeps the nation in the first tier of global powers, have been the target of spirited if largely ineffectual protests by antiwar activists for more than three decades here in the fleet’s home port.

British Trident submarine near its base in Scotland

But now Scotland’s growing political importance has made the future of the nuclear arsenal an issue in Britain’s general election campaign, intensifying debate over whether the country can afford its nuclear deterrent, a quarter-century after the end of the Cold War.

That question is being asked because of the surging popularity of the Scottish National Party, which stands to the left of the opposition Labour Party and has promised to rid Scotland of nuclear weapons…

Should Labour win the opportunity to form a government and turn to the Scottish National Party for support — a prospect analysts say is very real despite a Labour promise not to enter a formal coalition with the party — the question of abandoning the Trident missile system, moving the fleet from Scotland, or at least delaying an expensive modernization program would be on the table…

If the Conservatives win the election in May, Trident’s future seems assured. Speaking in Parliament in January, the defense secretary, Michael Fallon, said that the naval base is “truly Britain’s peace camp” and that the country “faces the threat of nuclear blackmail from rogue states.”…

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